<p><span class="deck"> <span class="typestyle"> The ex-Presidency now carries perquisites and powers that would have amazed all but the last few who have held that office</span> </span></p>
<p><span class="deck"> <span class="typestyle"> In which a President fails to fulfill his constitutional duty to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” And a reluctant Congress acts.</span> </span></p>
<p><span class="deck">30 years after judging Eisenhower to be among our worst presidents, historians have now come around to the opinion most of their fellow Americans held right along.</span></p>
<p>Most of our presidents have been avid athletes, even Taft. Could a party safely nominate an overweight and unabashed couch potato who scorned exercise?</p>
<p><span class="deck">Jack Kennedy came into the White House determined to dismantle his Republican predecessor’s rigid, formal staff organization, in favor of a spontaneous, flexible, hands-on management style. Thirty years later, Bill Clinton seems determined to do the same thing. He would do well to remember that what it got JFK was the Bay of Pigs and the Vietnam War.</span></p>
<p><span class="deck">Smarter than stupid, of course, but does the intellectual tradition that began with the century suggest that there's such a thing as being too smart for the country’s good?</span></p>
